Photo highlights from match day 3 at the Women's Euro 2025 soccer tournament
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NWSL's Gotham FC produces book focused on keeping girls in sports
Two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion Ali Krieger grew up playing three sports -- basketball, volleyball and, of course, soccer. She said playing multiple sports not only helped build different skills, but kept her in the game. "(Playing more than one sport) is so valuable because ... around age 14 or 15, a lot of athletes who are just playing one sport burn out," Krieger said. "They have had enough and they don't really enjoy the game anymore, or have the same love of the game, that they did at the very beginning, which is so unfortunate." Burnout is among the reasons that by age 14, girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys, according to the Women's Sports Foundation. Gotham FC has been working in partnership with Dove on an initiative called "Keep Her In the Game." The latest iteration of the partnership includes Rebel Girls Sports and a book called "Changing the Game: A Playbook for Champions in Training." Copies of the book will be handed out when Gotham FC hosts the Washington Spirit (noon ET, Saturday) at Sports Illustrated Stadium. A digital copy (linked above) will also be distributed in New York public schools, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Manhattan Children's museum. "Our goal is to inspire young girls to keep them playing sports and become the best version of themselves," Rebel Girls CEO Jes Wolfe said. "We're hoping to reach more than a million girls and their grownups with this book. "What's so cool about (the book) was every player was very open and honest about their journey and some of the roadblocks that came along the way." NWSL MVP frontrunner Esther Gotham shared her struggles with shyness, Gotham FC teammate Midge Purce tore a knee ligament right before the 2024 Olympics and Rose Lavelle has struggled with a hamstring injury for years. Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch West, a former player, shares that her career was cut short by ulcerative colitis. She said her shift to the front office shows young women that you can succeed in sports off the field. "We're going to persevere regardless of what obstacles come our way," Averbuch West said. "Success may look different for different people. And it's not always exactly as you expected it. "Things come up, life happens, and there's a lot of different ways to be successful and to impact people." More than 700 of the Keep Her in The Game program's 1,700 members have attended Gotham FC games since last August and 750 plan to attend Saturday's match vs. Washington. Krieger said the players work to make themselves available to the fans. "You do that extra work behind the scenes, whether it's creating this book, creating a campaign, or how can I go over to fans and stay after the game for 30-plus minutes and sign however many autographs," Krieger said. Gotham FC hopes the program and new book have a lasting impact. "We do hope to continue to be able to influence and provide opportunities for girls to play the game, to watch the game, maybe to one day work at our club, to own a club," Averbuch West said. "You know, there's so many avenues. These young women, we're interacting with them as soccer players, but we are also interacting with them as fans, as future leaders of households and business -- decision makers. "The hope is to inspire these girls to have a longstanding love and involvement in the game that goes far beyond the field." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gotham FC produces book focused on keeping girls in sports
New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
Back to the future on tactics; Weah, Grealish moves; Premier League kits ranked
The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! We're looking into the crystal ball today; with the help of cold, hard data, what can we predict about 2025-26? On the way: 📈 Trending tactics 🇫🇷 Weah, Grealish on the move 👕 EPL home kits, ranked 👍 No Messi, no problem We've digested the data so you don't have to. By looking back at last season, Mark Carey and Conor O'Neill have tried to predict what tactical quirks might emerge after the upcoming campaign kicks off a week tomorrow. Speaking of which… Traditionally, kick-offs have been a restart rather than a weapon: give the ball to a centre-back and hope they don't make an embarrassing early mistake. Advertisement But teams are increasingly using them as a way to attack — another set piece, even — with Brentford scoring five goals within 80 seconds of a restart last season, including in four consecutive games. Though long passes in general are down to their lowest level since 2006-07, at just 11 per cent of all pass types, post-kick-off long balls are undergoing a renaissance. Forty per cent of these passes were aimed into the final third last season, particularly towards the flanks in an effort to overwhelm less aerially dominant full-backs. Tariq Lamptey, expect to feel the rain. Having promoted set-pieces guru Keith Andrews to head coach this summer, Brentford will likely continue innovating, while Virgil van Dijk often plays these balls for Liverpool. And keep an eye on Paris Saint-Germain — they kick to touch, à la rugby union, to force their opponents to play through their press from deep. Has Pep Guardiola lost it? Or been reborn as a tango teacher? 'You have to rise to the rhythm,' the Manchester City manager said in January. 'Modern football is not positional.' An eyebrow-raising quote, certainly. But what Guardiola meant is that a transitional style is becoming the Premier League's modus operandi. Teams are playing in an increasingly frantic manner in a bid to have more possessions (indicating a more chaotic game, compared to retaining the ball and working your way up the pitch slowly), which raises the number of attacking opportunities. 'Today, modern football is the way Bournemouth, Newcastle, Brighton and Liverpool play,' Guardiola added. The data (above) shows these four teams all attack efficiently within high-turnover matches — and with his matchday squads this season including the likes of Jeremy Doku, Savinho and Rayan Cherki, Guardiola's men also have the technical quality to exploit those moments. Advertisement After years of exacting control, City may be on the edge of a stylistic shift. Back to restarts. When I was at school, it was pretty humiliating for a goalkeeper to need their centre-back to take their goal kicks — but in the Premier League, this is now commonplace. Outfielders took 28 per cent of goal kicks last season, more than one in four. Teams now see it as an opportunity to add an extra player to their build-up, with the goalkeeper becoming the free man. Brighton led the way with 158 examples, but Liverpool did it 140 times — albeit in different styles, with Brighton keeping the ball on the deck, and Liverpool lofting aerial passes through. But any innovation always comes with a counter-reaction. Will this be the season that outfielder goal kicks get worked out, or will we see their continued rise? The MLS has two new stars. Son Heung-min has arrived at LAFC — and having said that the club 'changed his heart' in convincing him to join, Los Angeles' Korean community are feeling their own cardiac shift. 'I feel my heart fly with him,' one fan told The Athletic. 'All my hopes, all my dreams run with him.' And then, after 17 years and 250 goals at Bayern Munich, Thomas Muller also has a new club in the North American league. The German has joined Vancouver Whitecaps, signing a contract which will jump to a designated player deal in 2026. Few big European arrivals have won an MLS title but with Vancouver challenging in the Western Conference, Muller has every chance. Tim Weah has become the latest USMNT player to move on in search of more game time. The 25-year-old has completed a move to Marseille, having barely played for Juventus at this summer's Club World Cup. The Athletic's new columnist Charlie Davies has written about the importance of these transfers, 10 months out from a home World Cup. He argues that Matt Turner's loan move back to the New England Revolution is going to be hugely significant for the U.S. national team. Advertisement It's not been slow in the Premier League either. Al Hilal have now reached full agreement with Liverpool to sign Darwin Nunez for €53million (£46m) plus add-ons. Assuming that goes through, Liverpool will have further funds to finance their pursuit of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak… with Manchester United still negotiating a deal with RB Leipzig for Benjamin Sesko, who Newcastle had earmarked as Isak's replacement. Manchester United are also speaking with Brighton over what a potential deal for midfielder Carlos Baleba may look like — but the south-coast club have made it clear they have no intention to sell. And elsewhere, Jack Grealish looks likely to be moving to pastures new after a tough season, with Everton having opened discussions with Manchester City over a season-long loan. The Athletic's David Ornstein reports that this will be a complex deal to complete, however. Another protagonist of this summer, Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres, has made his first start for his new club. The Athletic's Art de Roche watched every touch in a 3-2 loss against Villarreal — a game that ended with a bonus penalty shootout, for the fun of it. 📲 You can keep in touch with every potential deal on The Athletic's transfer blog here — make sure to read it sitting down. (Selected games, times ET/UK) Leagues Cup: New York Red Bulls vs FC Juarez, 7.30pm/12.30am; LA Galaxy vs Santos Laguna, 11pm/4am — both MLS Season Pass. The Leagues Cup might sound like an unlicensed version of English football's second-tier cup competition, but it has had its moments. Lionel Messi may have been missing with a minor muscle problem, but Luis Suarez dinked in a Panenka (above) to help Inter Miami to a 3-1 win over Pumas UNAM, putting them through to the quarter-finals. And Rodrigo De Paul also scored his first goal for Miami, before his fellow Argentine Tadeo Allende completed the scoring. So, even without Messi, this was a day for South American excellence. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US women's national team knocked off top spot by Spain in FIFA's latest rankings
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — The U.S. was knocked off the top spot in FIFA's latest women's rankings by world champion Spain. Spain regained the No. 1 position despite losing to England in the final of the European Championship last month. The U.S. held the top position since August last year after winning gold at the Paris Olympics. Spain was No. 1 from December 2023 to June last year after its World Cup triumph. The latest rankings were released by world governing body FIFA on Thursday. England, which has won back-to-back Euros and lost to Spain in the final at the 2023 World Cup, moved up one place to fourth. Brazil dropped three positions and is seventh despite successfully defending the Copa America to win its ninth continental title. Sweden and France were big movers after impressive showings at the Euros. Sweden rose three places and is third after being eliminated on penalties by England in the quarterfinals. France moved up four places to sixth after also losing in the quarterfinals. ___ AP soccer: The Associated Press
